Chapitre Two

The beginning of the Holiday season was slightly different for the people of West Branch Hollow. They weren’t sure if they were going to have a heat wave or a snow storm each day. Well, it wasn’t Rose’s fault. She just liked all the different types of weathers and persuaded Rupert to change the weather for her-almost every morning. November had been hazardous, what with the giant freak lightning storm two days after Halloween, followed by some floods, followed by a heat wave, followed by a snow storm finally but suddenly followed by another heat wave which caused another flood from all the snow.

Being of autumn descent, Rose began the frost in mid-November as she and her clan always did, but was lonely without the companionship of her clan.

But it was her duty to introduce the frost, and frost she did. She performed the ancient rituals alone, dancing the motions until her fingertips glowed a pale blue color. It was then that her tunic changed from its lovely autumn shades to the winter shades of blue, white and silver. Leather matching the same tone as her skin suddenly materialized over her feet, surrounding them and slinking up her calves, leaving her with boots now to keep warm from the winter cold.

Winter was the only season Rupert’s weather-changing magic did not work. The Winter season was too powerful, and its course was to be taken seriously. It couldn’t be messed up by silly faery wishes for the weather to be nice.

On the next full moon of the month, she performed all this, transforming back into a faery for her task. She flew through the air and through tree branches, watching in glee as the frost crept slowly along the flora. Rupert tagged along behind her disguised as a Hawk, anxiously waiting for her cold task to be over. He preferred the warmth of the small cottage he had created for both of them the day after Halloween in the brambles. He even cleared away the brambles surrounding the cottage himself.

The cottage was a ‘masterpiece’ according to Rose. She loved the whole thing, inside and out. The outside looked like a giant mushroom, and it felt like it too. It was whitewashed with red-orange tiles underneath the roof. A cute little oval edged door led the way inside the house. It was made of acorn wood, which as flimsy as it sounded, was as sturdy as stainless steel. Inside, you first stepped onto a plush warm carpet that felt like some clean version of moss. A fire in an oval hearth was to the left, with a toadstool table and toadstool chairs in front of it. To the right was a kitchen-despite Rose’s confusion about it still, Rupert created a refrigerator to go with it-complete with a tile floor that looked like rocks. In the back a double bed with a downy quilt and about 4 pillows and a horse blanket over it could be seen. Next to it was another door that led to Rose’s closet. Aside from that was a little bathroom with a shower, toilet, sink and mirror. Ever-burning candles hung in sconces from the walls around the cottage.

Outside behind the cottage Rose had started a garden of flowers, fruit and vegetables, which to anybody else at this time of year wouldn’t grow. But Rose’s grew anyways. Rose made sure that the almost unnoticeable walkway from the road looked like a beautiful secret garden as soon as you realized it was there, planting roses, violets, small willows and other small trees, night glow flowers and moon drops on the sides.

As soon as the frost came, the cottage looked even lovelier. When Rose had finished her cold task, everything that made her a faery vanished from sight it made her sad to think that she had to pretend to be a human, but she knew it was the only way.

As for other matters, Rose started school as soon as November began. By December nobody had really noticed that a new student was in their midst at West Branch Hollow High. They ignored her just as they ignored the rest of their class mates.

Even after dozens of attempts to make friends and hundreds of failures, Rose just decided that it was just the way teenagers acted as Juniors. Never once did she imagine that they just thought they should hate each other instead of make friends.

Of course there were the popular groups, but as soon as Rose heard a group of kids wearing all black and pink call them preps, she decided that they probably weren’t the nicest. When she tried to befriend this black and pink group which called themselves ‘Goths’, they immediately rejected her ‘preppy’ style. Hurt by the prep comment, she decided maybe the ‘preps’ would like her then. But then they called her a ‘geek’ because of the uniform of knee-length skirts and wool pullovers she wore almost everyday. Disheartened, Rose sought out the ‘geeks’. They wouldn’t have anything to do with her and her ‘punk’ attitude, so finally, a distraught and ready-to-breakdown Rose tried to befriend this ‘punk’ group. You can guess how that went.

So a saddened and now meek Rose was all on her own as a Junior in such a strange place as High School. Rupert was always ‘busy’ during the days she went to school, but Rose could tell he did hardly a thing. He couldn’t in the first place. He only did what she willed. But Rose, sympathetic to the poor dragon when she was paired with him, had given him much more freedom than what other dragon owners did. She let him leave her as long as he came back, she let him do whatever he wanted as long as it somehow either helped her, didn’t harm her, or whatever he pleased basically.

So almost everyday beginning from the start of November, Rose trudged to school, blending in with the rest of the kids at West Branch High, never once even checking out the people around her. She had given up at the thought of having friends here.

However, a few days before December, Rose was walking home from school, contemplating the wonders of Algebra two when a bright pink car roared by on the street. Rose didn’t even flinch from cars anymore. But when the car screeched to a stop, Rose drew her head up from the Algebra book she was ‘reading’ and studied the unmoving car. The convertible top rolled slowly down and three girls in sunglasses turned to look at her.

The girl who was driving had long black hair, pulled into a tight ponytail. Six earrings dangled from each ear and her tan skin shimmered from Victoria’s Secret body lotion. (Rose had to smile at that. She had coaxed Rupert into creating some money for her to get that a while ago.) The girl in the passenger seat had unnatural fiery red hair that spiked out to the sides. Her Gucci jacket told Rose that this girl meant business. The last girl who was sitting in the back had long pink hair with white streaks cutting in now and then.

All three looked at Rose and her now changing hair color that was changing from golden auburn to a pale crisp leaf color. The one in back sat up straighter, but then decided against that and just leaned out the car. If any boys had been around to see her and her hardly buttoned up dress shirt, Rose was sure she would have had an instant boyfriend.

“Hey…have we seen you somewhere before?” She asked, pulling down her pink sunglasses to reveal violet eyes. Rose shrugged, wracking her brain, wondering the exact same question.

“I uh…don’t think so.” She called to them. But suddenly an idea popped into her head. An idea that said-friends. She smiled brightly at them now. “My name’s Rose though. You three do seem familiar. Perhaps we go to the same school?” The driver snorted with laughter.

“Are you kidding us?” The passenger seated one asked. “We’re too smart for school. You look too smart for it as well. Hop in and we’ll get you fixed out of those fugly clothes.” All Rose could think was ‘friends’, and she didn’t want to blow a chance at getting another friend. She hoped Rupert wouldn’t mind, but this would probably be her only chance. She smiled even more as the pink haired girl opened the back seat door for her.

Rose slid into the car and shut the door, amazed. She had never ridden in a car, and Rupert had told her it was strictly forbidden. She wondered why as they headed over a freeway and into a city nearby that people at school talked about.

“I’m Mara by the way.” The pink haired girl said as she filed her pink nails.

“I’m Sitri.” Said the driver with the ponytail as she fishtailed into a parking spot in what Rupert had told her was a mall.

“And I’m Camio.” Stated the girl in the passenger seat with the fiery red hair. All three of them slid out in what Rose thought was a choreographed move. She bumbled out after them and shut her door, still admiring the pink of the car.

“So where on earth did you dye your hair?” Mara started in, linking arms with the two other girls and Rose. Rose looked at her own hair in a window and felt an angry blush creep into her cheeks. Why would she want to kill her hair?

“I’ve never…dyed my hair before. It’s perfect the way it is.” She retorted. Sitri laughed in a high-pitched manner.

“Oh my god, well your hair is totally gorgeous.”

“Now…for your looks?” Camio intervened, looking at Rose like she was a disease. “Well, let’s just say that your hair doesn’t cover all this hideousness up. We need to find you some expensive stuff.” Rose remembered that she had no real money. Rupert had just been creating it up for her as they went along.

“Uh…well, I don’t have any money at the moment.” She managed to get out, grabbing hold of a handrail to go down some steps. As soon as she touched the metal rail though, she whisked her hand away from it. The metal burned a heat she couldn’t see, but she knew it was there because her hand was a tender pink color now. Shrugging it off, she looked to the girls again. Mara whipped out a small plastic card and handed it to her.

“Here, when they ask for money, give them this. It pays for everything. Now come on, let’s get you some better clothes.”